My first go at the Cat's Eye Nebula
The center seems easy to capture, it’s bright. But couldn't find the right balance. So made 2 series to blend.
Next challenge is to capture the outer layer (if that is possible with my set up) and blend that with this.
This center was bright enough to use a low Gain of 59. First time that I could get that low But still brightness was low, so also shot with longer exposure and higher Gain and combined it.
Equipment:
Ioptron CEM25EC mount, no guiding
Meade LX65 8” f/10 ACF OTA
Optec Lepus Standard 0.62x reducer
Baader Neodymium filter
Zwo ASI385MC camera
Capture with SharpCap:
27 x 30 seconds, gain 59 (of 600), 100 flats, 10 darks.
11 x 60 seconds, gain 150, 100 flats, 6 darks
DeepSkyStacker: stacked the 2 series.
Processed in PS: blended the 2 stacks, enlargement and crop, Curves and Levels, bit of color saturation, Unsharp Mask
Cat's Eye Nebula / NGC 6543
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Please upload large images to photo sharing sites (flickr, etc) rather than trying to upload them as forum attachments.
Please share the equipment used and if possible camera settings to help others.
Please upload large images to photo sharing sites (flickr, etc) rather than trying to upload them as forum attachments.
Please share the equipment used and if possible camera settings to help others.
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Re: Cat's Eye Nebula / NGC 6543
Very nice capture. The Cat's Eye is not the easiest object to get. I had the 385MC for a long time and it is a great choice for planetary nebulae.
Well done!
Well done!
Re: Cat's Eye Nebula / NGC 6543
Thanx!
I do love the 385MC, very versatile. Besides DSO I only used it for Venus and the moon for now. I am pinned to my location and have to wait a few months and then ... Mars
Only busy with this kind of setup (and DSO) for 3 months now and when it comes to objects, the planetary nebulae are my favorite.
I do love the 385MC, very versatile. Besides DSO I only used it for Venus and the moon for now. I am pinned to my location and have to wait a few months and then ... Mars
Only busy with this kind of setup (and DSO) for 3 months now and when it comes to objects, the planetary nebulae are my favorite.